JR just announced its first 2.4gHz radio - the X9303 and the 12X. The fact the JRs radios come with the Spektrum units wasn't that much of a surprise really, due to their close links through Horizon Hobby. There's a more information to read here. Will start shipping in summer/fall.

Spektrum is also gearing up to supply its DSM2 units as addons to "any" brand radio. The JR and Futaba modules should also be available in summer.

So it seems the battle to become the 2.4gHz "standard" is heating up. I wonder who will still be standing once the dust settles....

The Eastern division of the SAE model heavy lift competition was just recently held in Ft. Worth, TX. I took the opportinuty to participate in helping out with photographing the event with Raymond Cervantes who has additional photos on his website, along with a DVD video he is making available of the event.

For those not familiar with this event. It is a multi-national event held in the US for students to build a model airplane and attempt to lift as much weight as possible. There are several classes ranging from small electric to large multi-engined, with the standard, single engine class being the most restrictive in the rules. More info scan be seen at the SAE website .

This year had teams come as far as Poland (which did very well) and South America (Brazil cleaned up). It is always fascinating to see the different designs that participate in the event. And it is never dull with each flight a likely disaster. In the standard class, the winning model lifted 31.7 lbs (14.4 Kg.) using a stock O.S. .61 engine.

This is Water Boy flying his homemade ap plane. As you can tell it didn't work quite well. Later we found out that the crash was caused by reverse controls on the radio. That's why you always check your contols.

Historians’ gives credit for the battle success of the Mongols to their short recurved bows that have higher performance then the English Longbow (for example). For a similar tension (potential energy) the improved stress of the recurved bow yields about 12% more velocity for the same grain-weight arrow. So academia is convinced that Mongols can shoot an arrow further, and that gives them a warring advantage. I question academia's reality because it is missing some very important points of view.

The 60 inch (or less) short bow has an advantage on horseback, however the more skilled mounted archers were the Zen Archers from Japan using a 75” (approx.) long recurved bow, that had the lower limb shortened (asymmetrical) to improve handling and reduce the pinch angle of the bow string to improve release and accurracy. Although the Japanese adapted the Western world's multi fingered release, some of them also utilized the Mongolian thumb and forefinger anchor, (that worked quite well for the short bow, by being that much cleaner to improve accuracy). The disadvantage of the Mongolian anchor is that it works extremely well with bows in the 20 to 35 lb pull range, whereas the English Longbow can be programmed with a pull up to 100 lbs! Howard Hill, an athlete (obviously), did all his fantastic stunts with a 90 lb pull Longbow (horseback included) and was able to successfully hunt the African Big 5 (Elephant and Cape Buffalo included) with his laminated 120 lb straight limed...Continue Reading

Yesterday, when I came from work (I had the early shift) I decided to make a little detour to an RC shop I knew existed, but never visited before.
As I already mentioned somewhere on the forum before, I'm in the market for a new, better and a little bigger heli to replace my twichy and nervous Carboon FP.

To my big surprise, the first heli kits I saw in the shop was the famous Robbe (Align) T-Rex, both XL and SE versions.
Needless to say I was hooked immediately, not having the cash right now for a complete set (yeah, my plane transmitter is pre-computer era) I'll have to wait till the end of next month to buy one. Anyway, when I got home, I told my wife I had been to that store and how much stuff they have there, so, we put the children in the car and went back to the store to let my darling Patricia have a look at the little dinos...
Well I guess, I'll have to buy two Rexies at the end of next month and a really big one next year, promise.
Back home again, although my wife was the one who had first brought the Helixx and the Carboon home, she hadn't practiced much since. Strangely enough, yesterday and today she has already flown 4 or 5 packs empty on the Carboon

I used my sony 3.2 digital camera for this video,it has audio from the truck and a music overlay mixed in. A little adjustment to the mounting is needed for the best perspective and view because the truck has a ton of suspension and the cameras view can change quite a bit do to the angles changing when the front suspension unloads during acceleration(it wants to yank the front wheels off the ground) .

Well cyclic automation isn't going so well. As hard as throttle automation was, cyclic automation is even harder. After some control losses, cluelessness about why Vicacopter malfunctioned, went back to doing altitude holds.

She had serious GPS drift and headed way way up. Then the battery died and the battery failsafe kicked in higher than it ever did before. The algorithm was modified to reduce throttle at a much slower rate. Despite this, she fell too fast and performed the most gear stripping ever.

It looks like cyclic automation is going to be a matter of determining the values for a level tilt, targeting those values for tilt, and ever so slightly biasing the level tilt to maintain position.

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So, Like all you who are reading this, I am addicted to this hobby, it is so much fun. I fly at Valley View Middle School in Simi valley. AND IF ANY OF YOU WANT TO SELL SOMETHING, RADIO, BATTERY, ELECTRIC PLANE, PM ME. As for my age, this hobby is expensive, and I love to jump on good deals.

Right know I fly, my Aerobird Challanger, and Parkzone Fock Wolf-190... and hope to get the new Typhoon 2.

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The answer is yes. You can generate 110V AC from a LiPo. It's a very expensive and short lived power supply. The point is, we're going to need copious amounts of light to shoot video of Vicacopter's first autonomous operations. It's too windy to shoot in daylight.

The LiPo generates 106V through the inverter. The lead acid only generates 100V. Seems to be a matter of instantaneous current response being better on the LiPo. Unfortunately, it's too expensive.

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I decided to make a website showing my all of my rc airplanes (my current flyable planes, crashed planes, ect.). I still have to add a lot of pictures and stuff. Anyway, here's the link to my website...